Slow It Down
by EyesNotOnMe
Summary: Squall leads a pretty mediocre life, until he starts dreaming and wanting things he previously had nothing to do with. Now all he wants is for everything to slow down. I think everybody is with everybody at some point. Chapter 3 up finally.
1. Part 1

**Part 1**

_ --__My Day Off--_

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* * *

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_Author's note: _I decided this needed a little bit of editing and made prettier. Hope I succeeded. 3


	2. The Dream

I woke up this morning holding onto a faint picture from a fuzzy dream. In this dream, I was just walking around, looking at my neighborhood. Everything was where it should be, but it was crumbling. Shingles fell into sloppy piles in the mud, windows slowly cracked and then shattered. The siding and wood and bricks came out of place, as if they had minds of their own, and flung themselves at other houses, furthering the irreparable damage. At the end of my street, there was a park, also falling apart.

What I really remember is the girl standing in the park. She was facing away from me, but still, I felt this intense need to have her. So I walked forward, as if possessed. Her long dark hair blew slightly in the wind. I opened my mouth, wanting to call her to me, and at that moment she turned toward me. I saw her smile, and I think I fell in love with her right then, inside of my dream. She was the most gorgeous creature my eyes had ever beheld. She pointed to the sky.

Are you a Goddess? I didn't speak it aloud, but somehow she heard me and giggled. No silly. She continued to point at the sky, but even as I felt the pull to look, I resisted. It seemed to me that if I dared even a glance away from her, she would disappear. What then? The beautiful girl(woman, my mind insisted) turned her gaze away from me to the skies. Make a wish.

This time I had no choice, and when I saw the star filled sky, everything melted away.

I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed that morning. I wanted to think about her all day. Trying to remember where I'd seen her, or if I really had. I was scared that my mind would let go of everything.

And sure enough, as I showered, details faded, no matter how hard I tried to grasp onto them. By the time I'd dried off, brushed my teeth, and clothed myself in my SeeD uniform, all I could remember was her dark hair and eyes, and her soft voice telling me to make a wish.

Alright, I thought, I wish for you. Then I laughed at myself and spoke aloud. "If only, if only."

At seven o'clock sharp I was locking the front door to my apartment and heading towards my black and red crotch rocket motorcycle. I stuck the keys in, revving it to life and started out to the country, where the Garden was located. The Garden was where I worked, and was essentially my life. Sad, but true. I was always putting in overtime, consistenly working 60 hour weeks. Dr. Kadowaki always tells me that I need to slow down, despite the fact that I'm in my prime. I always nod and agree, but of course I take no heed to her words.

I pulled in at my usual spot and hopped off, somehow filled with energy physically while feeling emotionally empty. I jogged inside and made my way to he elevator. A cute girl kept stealing glances at me, but I ignored her. I think it was her hair that turned me off, flipped up at the ends, giving her a very young look. When the door opened on the first floor and a very young boy exited, she turned to me. "Hi! I'm Selphie Tilmitt, and I just transferred here from Trabia. Who're you?" I wished I could just ignore her, but I wasn't that rude. "Squall," I replied, providing no last name. "I'm not a cadet anymore, I'm a Protector of Balamb Garden, the city of Balamb, and the surrounding grounds. I suggest that you make friends your own age." There was of course, as I had expected, no reply.

The doors slid open on the second floor and she rushed out. I felt slightly bad for hurting her feelings, but she'd probably get over it. There were plenty of nice boys to be had in this Garden, and she was cute enough.

I walked briskly down the hall to a locked storage area to which I had the key. I let myself in and made my way to where I stored my gun case. Inside was my pride. Last month I'd finally had enough Gil and had found enough items to upgrade to the Lionheart. I pulled it out almost reverently and placed it on a tiny card table. Closing my gun case and putting it back on a shelf, I never took my eyes off my gunblade. I had a pathetic affection for it.

I picked it up once more and headed back to the elevator. Thankfully, I rode this trip alone. Everyone else must be in class by now.

Up on the first floor I was, as usual, the first one there. Headmaster Cid looked up from his desk and smiled warily. "Good morning Squall." I was one of very few people whom the headmaster called by first name. "Morning. Anything new?" "More requests from Galbadia Garden for some of our shining SeeDs. But that's not exactly new. Ah yes, Trabia requests the presence of one Squall Leonhart. Must be a sales pitch for you coming to be their Captain." A worried look came over Cid's face, but I rolled my eyes and waved away the thick paper that strongly resembled a wedding invitation which he held out to me. He set it back down on his desk and adjusted his glasses. He opened his mouth to speak, but in that moment, Seifer strolled in, his gunblade propped on his shoulder. He nodded with a small smile to me, a gesture I returned.

"Headmaster, I think you need to get laid." So Seifer also noticed how tired and stressed out Cid was. Although he didn't seem to appreciate the comment. "Almasy, I think that you need to watch your mouth. I am your boss, not your friend." Seifer shrugged. I was fairly jealous of Seifer's brash personality, but not of how often he got into trouble because of it.

The door opened and a few more Protectors entered quietly, perhaps too timid to speak to either me or Seifer, two of nine team leaders. The Protector project was fairly new, and constantly making little changes. Right now we had three shifts going, one from eight a.m. to five p.m. The second from five p.m. to twelve a.m. and the third from twelve a.m. to eight a.m. Each shift had three team leaders, and each team leader commanded three men. A simple enough system. About a year ago, our tiny island became completely overrun with monsters and so the Headmaster developed this system to fight them back. It did a fine job keeping the townspeople safe, but the monsters still flourished, showing no signs of dying off.

The other Gardens were having problems with controlling the monster population as well, and were very interested in incorporating this system, but unfortunately could not afford it.

"Alright everyone," Cid spoke loudly to the room with all but one of the morning shift Protectors present. "The time is now seven forty-five. I've got an announcement that will be good news for everyone. I'm sure you all resent the couple of hours required to work on both Saturday and Sunday, since we run short. I'm very close to securing funding for a weekend crew so you can have the whole weekend off with no interruptions!" Excited voices filled the Headmaster's office. I shot a glance at Seifer who for a change had a serious look on his face. Cid raised his hands and the noise died down. "Now everyone get out there and protect our great island." Everyone but the team leaders shuffled out the door.

Seifer, Kiros, and I sat in the three chairs in front of Cid's desk. He ran a hand over his hair and sighed quickly. "There's an open half shift from eight to twelve tonight, talk to your men and see if anyone needs it." "Sir, I'd like the shift. I need the money sir, if that's alright." Kiros always spoke so respectfully to the Headmaster. "Yes, yes. That's fine. Squall needs a break." I made a face but said nothing. Seifer smirked at me. "Alright then..Squall, I trust that your third man will be here soon?" "Yes sir, I suppose he'll be the front gate waiting, as usual." "Okay, go get some work done." He picked up his pen and we were officially dismissed.

Seifer and I walked together towards the front gate, Kiros trailing slightly behind. Seifer and I had been rivals when we were still cadets, but when we started working as Protector's, we were placed on the same team together and became fast friends. It was a turn that no one expected, but I suppose that was the way that life went. Soon after though, we both became team leaders and didn't spend near as much time together. Yet still, we had a sort of bond that was evident to all.

"What are you wanting today, Leonhart?" "I'd prefer the fire caverns, if that's cool with you guys." Kiros and Seifer both nodded, then quarreled over who would patrol the city, and who would take care of the forests. I ignored them, thinking of dark hair and dark eyes.

As expected, Irvine stood waiting with all the other Protectors. "Kinneas!" Seifer shouted. "So nice of you to join us, your mom finally let you out of the house?" "Ho ho! Says the boy not yet old enough to buy his own alcohol!" "Get your ass in line Kinneas." Irvine bowed slightly and did as he was told.

My team headed east to the Fire Cavern. I pulled out my walkie and reported to the Headmaster. "Squall's team headed to the Fire Cavern." "Confirmed." Kiros and Seifer's voices also informed the Headmaster of where they were going. Seifer had apparently won the city patrol.

We passed a tired-looking group of Protectors headed back to the Garden and exchanged greetings. I spoke brielfy to Ward, their large team leader. "How long since you've been inside?" "Uh..prolly bout two hours." "Kay, thanks."

The Fire Cavern was popular for many cadets, but very dangerous for the majority of them, for they generally had no idea how to handle battles properly and got, well, burned. Also, even though Ifrit was MY Garden Force, I let him run loose in the caverns, he'd come close to killing a young, young girl. That was a tough situation to deal with. Her parents had tried to sue the Garden, despite the contract they'd signed, the one that expressed the dangers of training to become a SeeD and released the Garden from any responsibility to her health. Kind of a bullshit contract to sign if you ask me.

I sent two of my men ahead to check on the entrance to the Fire Cavern while Irvine and I dispatched a hord of bite bugs. "Want to go out tonight?" I shot him a glance. "Dude, you don't even have to drink, just come and meet my girl." "Oh, it's hard to keep track, who are you with now?" "I've been with her two weeks, keep up. She's stunning, really. I can just imagine those legs wrapped around me--" "Imagine?" I cut him off. "You've been with her for two weeks and haven't slept with her? Isn't that about the time that you kick a girl to the curb?" Irvine looked at me seriously. Why was everyone doing that to me today? "She's different man, believe me. I had a hard enough time getting her name! Now I've snagged her and I'm not letting go any time soon." I shot him a doubtful look. "I'm not kidding Squall. She's so honest about everything, she's told me outright that she doesn't think that I'm what she's looking for and probably won't sleep with me. I can't resist a challenge, now can I?"

I stared at the sky for a moment. This was very..unlike Irvine. "Whatever makes you happy a guess." "And whatever makes YOU happy. She's got a friend. Very very nice. I am hooking you up." I groaned, but already knew that I was going to agree, although I had no idea why. "Yeah? Yes? Si?" He pressed me. "Whatever." I replied, running my hand over my gunblade. "That is close enough for me! After we're done, go home and shower, change, and meet me at the Balamb City Docks at six thirty." "Where are we going?" "Dollet..." "The hell we are Irvine! I'm not going out that late when I have to work to--" "Tomorrow's Saturday man. Chill. It's all good. Relax and have fun for once. Make out with a chick. A HOT chick." I rolled my eyes and replied, "I'll get back to you on that one."

Irvine grinned happily. "Oh yeah man, this is so happening."


	3. Unanswered Questions

When Irvine and I caught up with the others, they were examining the entrance of the Fire Cavern, which was clearly broken into. We exchanged cautious looks.

"Sir," one of my men, whose name I can never remember, spoke up. "There has been forced entry into the Fire Cavern, proceed?"

As if I couldn't see that there was forced entry. I sighed slightly and shook my head. "You..go back to the Garden and get the materials to fix this, then get back here. Wait for us to clear the place and then we'll fix it up."

He saluted me with a 'Sir!' and took off in a jog. Speedy boy, he was.

I turned to my other lackey and asked, "You're ok with the front parts on your own? There are really only Buels there, no bombs. Okay?"

"Yes sir, I'll be just fine." Then he dissapeared into the cavern.

Before we followed, Irvine smirked. "Yes sir, whatever you say sir, may I suck your dick sir? You've really got these guys on a short leash Squall. I wish I had people just panting at my feet to please me."

I gave him a hard stare. "You know you could. You're a word away from being a team leader, so why not? It's power, not having to be ordered around by me, and a pay raise. Plus you probably wouldn't have to get stuck doing the Fire Cavern virtually every day, since that's my preference."

"Alright man, this is gonna sound really gay, but," he gave me a bit of a sheepish look. "I really like working with you, it's part of the reason I hang around this piece of shit island. If I was a team leader, I'd see you in the morning, rarely on the field, and then when we met back at Cid's. And it's not like you really order me around anyway, we're a lot more like comrades. You should probably call this in to Cid, by the way." He gestured at my walkie.

I was thrown aback. Irvine was basically my best friend, but I didn't know he thought the same way. Regardless, I think he wanted me to pretend like he hadn't said anything, so I contacted Cid and reported to him the situation.

Now Irvine grinned, "We probably shouldn't leave him in there all alone, or he'll come out crying for his master."

I rolled my eyes and we headed in.

"Do you have any blizzards?" Irvine asked.

I already knew I had a fair amount, but I checked anyway. "Yeah, fifty-eight. What about you? You good?"

"Naw man, I'm totally empty. Hook me up?"

I transferred him three blizzards and waved him to follow me deeper into the cavern.

"Three? C'mon man, I'm pretty spell happy in here."

"We're headed towards the draw point, get some there."

He mumbled under his breath, but I didn't try to catch anything he said. My mind was slowly drifting back to trying to remember my dream. I was hoping that I would either remember everything, or just forget that I'd had a dream. Not today probably, but tomorrow? I think I had a good chance for that.

When we arrived at the draw point(after taking down a few fire bombs), Irvine trotted up and placed his hand on it. He frowned and turned to me.

"It's empty."

I closed my eyes. It wouldn't have been my other man, he followed orders too well, and shouldn't be this deep. But only those with Garden Forces would have the power to draw, and only SeeD Cadets and those above them were allowed to have GFs. We'd never had any problems with a SeeD Cadet breaking into the Fire Cavern. They were supposed to be beyond that level of immaturity, or something like that. Whatever the case, I really didn't like this.

With my eyes closed I didn't notice the Buel approach me from my right side. It attacked me, going for the throat. Irvine quickly pulled out his gun and shot it, The Buel fell to the ground, still twitching. I pulled out my gunblade and finished him off.

"Damn, you can't let your guard down Squall." He looked through his items and threw me a potion. I took it, instantly feeling much better.

"Tell me something I don't know. I was just..distracted." I wiped the small amount of blood off my neck and wiped it on my uniform pants. I hadn't been taken off guard in a very long time. I shot a look at Irvine and opened my mouth but he spoke before I could.

"Don't worry. No one will know."

I nodded my thanks, and gave him some more blizzards before we headed down the path that would lead us to the very end of the cavern. The bombs came at us pretty heavy here, but we easily iced them and entered the room at the end.

There we saw a boy, a few years younger than me, casting blizzards on Ifrit. I didn't recognize him. I felt fairly sure that I'd never seen him before. He had blonde spiky hair and a ridiculous tattoo on him face. He also appeared to be carrying no weapon. All of this passed through my head half a second before I yelled.

"Get away from him!"

The boy looked at me, a smile on his face. "Aw c'mon, he's just a weak monster that looks scary."

"You moron, he's my GF. He's partially tame so he's leaving you alive. Keep pissing him off though..and you'll find yourself fried."

Irvine approached the boy and grabbed his arm while I turned to Ifrit and sent him away.

"Who the hell are you?" Irvine demanded.

"I'm Zell Dincht, transfer from Galbadia Garden. They told me to explore the Balamb area and slay some monsters." He said proudly, then made sort of a karate chop motion in the air.

I felt very uneasy about this. Why? Why were we getting transfers? I pushed it to the back of my mind. I'd deal with that later.

"No one gets sent out here on their own, Dincht. I'm taking you back to the Garden for a chat with the Headmaster."

He saluted, but in more of a joking manner than respect. "Sir!"

* * *

When we'd made our way back to the entrance, I made Zell fix up the damage he'd done to the it. Then I ordered for my men to fix it to be a little more secure than before. Gesturing to Zell, we headed back to the Garden.

On our way, he tried to make small talk with me, but I ignored him. I already couldn't stand the guy, and hoped that I'd never have to deal with him consistently. Cid better not come up with a mentoring program or something like that. I just might strangle him.

Upon arrival, I led him straight to the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.

"You're kind of a jerk, you know? First you're yelling at me for doing something I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do, now you're not even replying me. Are you even listening to me?"

He droned on for a while, but I just drowned out everything he said.

Reaching Cid's office, I shoved the door open forcefully and glared at the Headmaster. He was on his phone, but seeing my expression and who followed behind me, he quickly ended his call.

"What can I do for you, Squall?"

"Why the hell is a new transfer wandering around the Fire Caverns, being in a place where he doesn't belong, assaulting my GF? I think you need to keep better control of your Cadets."

My boldness surprised even myself, but more so the Headmaster. He was downright shocked.

"Leonhart! I do not take orders from you! Dincht, our new transfer, was sent out to test his physical capabilities at my command."

I knew I shouldn't push it, but I did anyway. Slamming my fist down on his desk, I replied fiercely,

"His capabilities can be tested in the goddamn training center!"

There was a silence settling over the room. The type of silence that bears down on you, making you uncomfortable, hurting your ears. Not a sigh nor a breath could be heard, and the wind remained calm outside.

"Dincht, please go to classroom 3A for briefing."

The boy followed his orders, exiting quickly.

"Briefing for what?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Not everything is for you to know Squall. I'm over looking your indiscretion because you're of such a high value to us. But if this happens in front of someone like a Cadet again..I'm transferring you away from this Garden. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir. You're understood."

He nodded. "Alright, you can go now."

"With all due respect sir, I'd like to ask you about a few things."

He waved his hand over his desk. "I've got a lot of work to do. Make it quick."

I took a seat across from him, settling in for what I thought was going to be a long conversation.

"Why are we getting transfers when the other Gardens are asking for our help?"

"Another thing that is not for you to know."

I set my jaw. This was getting frustrating.

"Why are you sending out new transfers all alone without knowing what they're capable of?"

The Headmaster sighed deeply. "Listen, I don't think I'm going to be able to help you. You're dismissed."

"Sir, I'd like to request the rest of the day off."

Cid stared at me intently. I'd never asked for a day off, and most definitely had never asked to go home early. After some time he nodded.

"Request granted. And tell the rest of your team that they're off early as well. The Fire Cavern is closed up?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright. Enjoy your time off Squall. Don't stress too much about your questions."

I didn't respond, just got up and left. In the hall towards the elevator I called Irvine and told him that we had the rest of the day off.

"Alright man, I'll call my girl and move this thing up. Meet at the docks at four?"

I had forgotten about Irvine's plans. Well fine, I was obviously becoming another person, not willing to be a pushover. Maybe it was time I met a girl and broke away from all this time spent at the Garden. So I agreed.

Instead of heading to the first floor, I pressed the second floor button. I was going to find the answers if that meant interrogating new transfers.

To get what I wanted, I was going to have to suck it up and talk to a certain flippy-haired girl.

I only hoped that I could stay out from under Cid's radar.


	4. Speeding Up

Waiting outside the seeD classroom I realized how impatient I am. I hate to wait. Add to it having nothing to do but stare at your beautiful gunblabe realizing that maybe it's not so important as you had once thought, one could go slightly mad. I glanced at the silver digital clock above the room's door. It only read 10:14--class wouldn't be out until 11.

I ran my gloved fingers over the blade of my Lionheart and remembered that I had used a few bullets on the field and hadn't reloaded. I could probably clean and polish it too.

I headed over to the infirmiry and was glad to see that Dr. Kadowaki wasn't there. Not that I don't like her, but I wasn't in the mood for chatting. I went to the cabinet where I knew she kept some polish.(Apparently sometimes she got bored and polished her silver tools.) I took the bullets out of the chamber and slowly and efficiently cleaned the blade. I poured the polish onto a clean towel and started to make it shine as my thoughts turned back to the dream I had forgotten. Funny how something you couldn't even remember could invade your thoughts so much.

When I was finished with that I reloaded the gun portion and checked the clock. Ten thirty-six. I sighed and decided to work off some energy in the training center.

On the way over I looked around more than usual. I never was much of an observer in my Garden. I felt safe here, like I didn't need to keep an eye out. I supposed now that maybe I shouldn't be so trustful. I casually looked in all directions but saw nothing suspicious. Of course, what would they do out in the open? Who did they trust? I was the first Protector chosen because of my ability to get any job done--no questions asked. So why keep this from me? I wasn't willing to consider that I was making things up. The Headmaster was acting too stressed, too edgy.

When I arrived I took a right where I'd killed my first T-rexaur, right by the stream. When he finally fell, he went right into the water. It tooks hours upon hours to clean up and I got bitched out by my Instructor, but that was a very fierce and proud moment for me, regardless of the hassle I'd gone through afterwards.

I easily tore through four Grats without tiring before I noticed Seifer sliding through them like butter with a serious aggresiveness I'd never seen in him. It sounds girly, but in a totally straight way, he looked beautiful. I used to wonder what so many girls saw in him, but I guess if they'd ever seen him like this they must have been gone on him instantly. I shifted my eyes away before I could be accused of having a man crush on him just in time to see a Grat whipping out a sleep gas. I jumped backward and rolled to the side. When the gas faded I ran straight to it and slashed it through, not even bothering to pull the trigger. As it fell to the ground I calmly took out a towel and wiped my blade clean.

Looking up I saw Seifer approaching me with a lazy grin. Or was it a cocky grin? A better question--who cares?

"What are you doing here this fine afternoon?"

I rolled my eyes. "It's not afternoon. It's not even close to noon. Wait. What are you doing is the better question. Your team..? The people of Balamb City are no longer safe I presume. But then, they never were with you always taking the patrol there."

Instead of replying with a sly answer or attacking me with a fire spell(his favorite) his smile slipped away. He looked so foreign. So..so damn serious. There was something wrong with Seifer.

"Balamb City isn't safe," he said quietly.

I started to give him an angry retort about not taking his job seriously but then, I knew that wasn't true. He was changing, just like me. Were the same reasons I had driving him along? All I could say to him was, "That's a pretty cheesy line Seif." I didn't sound like myself at all.

He seemed to shake off his strange mood and laughed. "Sure is my boy. Cid called up me and Irvine and said he wanted to see what ol' Irvy had in him. Said I could take the afternoon off while Irvine led the team. My team. I don't know why. Irvine's been working really hard to show himself as a slacker. Guess our ever-knowing boss saw through it."

For some reason the words ever-knowing sent a little shiver through me. I couldn't get rid of this dreadful feeling in my stomach, like something was wrong and that the Headmaster knew, knew and didn't trust me enough to let me in on the secret. Was it something I wouldn't agree with? And now for the first time ever, I wished that I could transfer to another Garden, see what was going on in those places.

Almost reading my thoughts, Seifer eerily changed moods again and gestured forward. "Let's go to Lover's Point. We need to talk."

* * *

When we had arrived and sent a couple of kids back to class(kids? my mind pulled at me) we settled down in silence for a while. After several minutes passed my mind began to wonder back to the dream. Her dark eyes piercing mine,

and a fear, of..something. Losing something?

Seifer finally spoke up, "Have you noticed anything weird lately?"

Before the words were out of his mouth I was nodding.

"Like what?" He challenged me.

"The transfers. Lots of new people lately. And at the same time we're getting requests from the other Gardens for more Cadets. It doesn't make any sense."

He jerked his head up and down once. "What else?"

"Something...I don't know." I rubbed my forehead. "There's something there.."

"There's a lot there. We get about 3 or 4 transfers a week. And the kids coming in here. KIDS. Seriously. I thought 15 was our minimum age but..I've seen an eleven year-old boy out here. Almost got destroyed by a t-rexaur.

I had to save his ass and confront Cid about it. Almost got myself fired. I was ranting and raving and throwing shit."

"Wow, who knew you cared so much about kids?"

He gave me a wiltering look. "This isn't funny Squall."

All of a sudden I felt like a child. We seemed to have switched personalities. "I know that. But what can we do?"

"Figures you have a hard time being passionate about anything, but listen. Fujin and Raijin won't hardly talk to me anymore."

"Big loss." I interrupted.

He gave me another one of his looks. "They are my best friends..were..whatever. Ever since Cid put them in charge of this secret project they've been avoiding me like the flu. I've tried to corner them several times and interogate them but...nothing. Their lips are sealed. There's no information to be had anywhere. No paperwork that I can find. It's driving me crazy..what are they planning?"

I shrugged. "I'm sure we'll find out eventually, but..what time is it?"

Seifer pulled out his phone. "Eleven fifty-three, to be exact."

"Alright, I need to split, but let's talk about this later, okay?"

He looked at me for a while, searching me. "Do you care about this at all?"

"More than you know." And then I was on my feet and heading to the cafeteria.

It really was getting to me, but I felt like I was overloaded. Too much to think about at once. And I needed to talk to that girl.

* * *

When I entered the cafeteria it struck me that I should have had Seifer come along with me, but I'd just talk to him about it later.

I saw her almost immediately, her bright yellow dress sticking out in a crowd of uniforms. Which annoyed me. Why didn't she have a uniform yet? I approached and caught her eye. She blushed and quickly looked away. 'Looks like she's gonna make this hard on me.' I thought.

I went up to her table full of other students and said, "Miss Tilmitt. May I have a word with you?"

The table was split with making flirtacious 'ooohs' and 'you're in trouble now!'s. She slowly but gracefully rose and followed me outside keeping her eyes down.

We headed to the Quad and I directed her to some more secluded benches.

I jumped right in. "Miss Tilmitt, why are you here?"

She looked surprised, and then angry. "What do you care?! It's none of your business! Why don't you go find someone your age to talk to?"

At this she stood but I grabbed her wrist. She turned with fire in her eyes. "Let me go."

"Listen! This isn't about you. I just...why are so many people getting transferred here? Doesnt Trabia need our help? Why are they sending away their students? And to the most powerful Garden at that? I'm sorry Miss Tilmitt,

but I need some answers. What is Trabia like right now?"

She sat back down. She finally met my eyes, looking thoughtful. "Bad. They told us that since we can't fight off the monsters, we're all going to be sent over to Balamb. Slowly though. I don't know. I thought we had enough people.

There's really only a tiny city there and we could all work hard to defend it. It..doesn't make sense."

I nodded. "I know. Anything else you know that might be helpful?"

She started to say no but then changed her mind. "Well, after our test to become seeD Cadets we're going on a secret mission. Nobody knows anything about it. I guess we're just gonna get on the boats and go. We won't have any information until we get there. All I know is our leaders are called Fujin and Raijin. I haven't seen them yet. Do you know them? Are they Protectors too?"

I got up and walked away. I needed to talk to Seifer fast. "Thank you Miss Tilmitt." I called over my shoulder.

She shouted after me, "You can call me Selphie!"

* * *

I looked everywhere for Seifer but couldn't find him, so I decided to head into town and change out of my uniform. I went into the garage, where I saw Fujin. I didn't think it'd be helpful to ask her questions and by doing so draw unwanted attention on myself. But she was there to talk to me.

"Squall. Let it go."

I headed to my motorcycle quickly and jumped on, revving it to life. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She stared at me hard. "Stop asking questions."

I ignored her and peeled away. I made it back to my apartment in record time, jumped in the shower and changed into my black leather pants and boots. I threw on a white t-shirt and my black leather jacket with the white fur laced hood. I criss-crossed two brown leather belts around my waist and finished by pulling my gloves back on. This was my favorite fighting outfit, but the Headmaster frowned on the lack of uniform. I headed out of the apartment and locked the door. Then I was back on my bike and heading back to the Garden.

This time I remembered to grab my cell phone off it's charger and I just now turned it on to see that I had three missed calls. All from Seifer. The latest one was at 1:18 and came with a voicemail, which I dialed.

"Hey Squall why aren't you answering your phone? Meet me at the Fire Cavern at 2. If you're not there by 2:15 I'm leaving, and I don't know if I'm coming back..I have something I think I gotta go do."

I cursed and checked the time. It was 1:35. I should make it..although it was impossible to drive my bike from the Garden to the Fire Cavern in that terrain, so I'd have to park there and then jog. I could make it. I sped up and ignored Irvine trying to wave me down as I passed by.


	5. Seifer's Departure

I made it to the Fire Cavern with minutes to spare. Breathing heavily, I pushed my way inside, past the mess Seifer must have made breaking in. But where would he be? I decided to just stay near the entrance, lest I take a wrong path and miss him going out.

"Seifer!" I called out his name loudly and within seconds, he appeared.

"Hey, I almost thought you weren't gonna show up. How's it going?"

I made an exasperated noise in the back of my throat. "I looked everywhere for you. What's going on now?"

"Well if you had answered your damn phone..."

I didn't give response to that, I only stared until he answered my question.

"I'm taking a leave of absence."

"Where are you going?" But I thought I knew. It's where I wanted to go--what I wanted to do.

"The other Gardens. Trabia first. I think they're in more trouble than Galbadia. 'Course, Galbadia is located near several cities. They should be fine for a while, but Trabia...they're dying off. We've received fourteen transfers from them in the past month. So I'm gonna go see how they're doing. Really doing."

Even though I knew I couldn't, I asked, "Shouldn't I go with you? Two heads are better than one and all that?"

"Of course not. Cid's gonna be mad already. And most certainly suspicious. You need to go back into robot mode. At least for now. Get yourself crazy into work and stop asking questions."

I nodded but knew it wasn't going to be as easy snapping your fingers. I was _different._ Even though the dream had nothing to do with this, I felt as if that's what had changed me. But I couldn't think about that right now. I relayed my conversation with the flippy-haired girl to Seifer.

"Yes, I definitely need to check in on Trabia. Why let it just...die off? After all the hard work Cid put into creating seeD and the Gardens..."

We stood in silence for a while, watching a flock of Buels considering attacking us before moving on. I felt powerful in that moment. We were fierce and they didn't even want to come near us.

I glanced at Seifer. His face was like a mirror. Our matching scars and serious expressions. I thought maybe he was feeling the same way that I did, but then he said,

"We're really so weak compared to all of seeD. We need to start bringing pother people on board wit us. While I'm gone, you start talking to some people you trust and let them know what we know. We'll be a rebel alliance."

He grinned at that last part.

"Well Squall, good luck back here at home. Keep Cid in line will ya?"

He patted me on the back and brushed by. I remembered to wish him luck too.

"Hyne-speed."

He laughed hollowly. "Hyne help us."

* * *

I walked back to the Garden slowly, wishing I was the one leaving. I wanted to do something about this, but there was nothing. I felt, helpless...

It was a little after three when I got back, and classes were just getting out for the day. i noticed several people leaning on ledges, deeply absorbed in playing Triple Triad games. They were so ignorant. But, then, so was I really.

The girl with the yellow jumper dress boldly approached me. "Hey mister Protector!" She had a pair of nunchucks that she swung around once, showing off, I supposed. She seemed to know how to wield them. She also wore a flirtacious smile that made me assume that she wasn't too worried about our earlier discussion.

Briskly nodding I replied with a not-so-friendly, "Miss Tilmitt."

She frowned playfully. "I told you to call me Selphie. Can we talk for a minute?"

As she batted her eyelashes at me I was surprised to realize that I did want to talk to her. She had a bit of a draw to her.

"Alright." Was all I could say.

She grabbed me by the wrist-which sent little tingles up my arm-and dragged me to the elevator. When we got inside she giggled. "Sorry, but my new friends were staring. They talk about you a lot. You're very popular with the ladies."

That was news to me. I uttered out a "Whatever."

"Look, I wanted to ask you..." She started to fiddle with her nunchucks. "Would you like to..join the Garden Festival Committee?"

Her green eyes looked up at me innocently. "I know they could really use the help."

The elevator doors opened and we found ourselves in the empty second-floor hall, save for a few instructors discussing some problem students.

I opened my mouth to say no, hell no. But she was really giving me the puppy dog eyes and I thought maybe Seifer would agree--it could cool Cid off towards me if I was actively involved in something like this. So instead I found myself nodding and saying, "Sure."

She squealed with delight and threw her arms around me, almost hitting me on the head with her chucks. The instructors passed, laughing, and then got into the elevator to ride up tp Cid and give him a reports on the day.

"Thank you Squall this'll be so much fun! I can call you Squall can't I?" She pulled back sporting a big smile on her face.

I found myself saying "Sure" again. And then we were locked into an uncomfortable moment, and a voice inside my head said '_kiss her.' _The impulse was incredibly strong, I even found myself starting to angle my head but then I remembered that I had just met this girl. I also remembered the beautiful dark eyes from my dream.

Instead I settled on grabbing _her _for a hug. I could take this slow after all. And I mean, it was just a dream...right?

Right?

* * *

I knew Irvine wasn't likely to show up since he was probably still working, but I still arrived at the docks at four. If anything I went there as an excuse to get away from Selphie. Nothing against her, I was obviously developing an affection for her, but after I gathered her in my arms things got weird. She was blushing and turning it up to pull scale flirting. I wasn't ready for that craziness yet...and so..waiting around at the docks it was.

At about fifteen after I decided to head by the store and then go home. I spent plenty of Gil stocking up my inventory with potions and high potions before heading back to my apartment.

When I got thtere I realized that I wanted to sleep. Badly. So I half undressed and collapsed into bed. I closed my eyes and at that moment, the text alert on my cell phone went off.

"Dammit. I got up and started to look through the clothes I had dropped into a heap on the floor. When I finally found my phone I almost wished I hadn't. A new text from Irvine read, 'Train station 6?' Sighing, I sent back a quick 'K', set my phone to silent, remembered to unjunction my GF's and fell asleep.

And dreamed.


End file.
